Fishing rod holder

ABSTRACT

A fishing rod holder ( 10, 10 A,  10 B,  10 C,  10 D) having (i) at least one tubular component ( 9 ) having a continuous side wall ( 11 ), an open top ( 12 ), and bottom end wall ( 13 ) having a fastening shank or projection ( 14, 20, 31 ) extending outwardly and centrally from the bottom end wall ( 13 ); and (ii) a socket component ( 22, 28, 33 ) engageable with the shank for projections ( 14, 20, 31 ).

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a fishing rod holder useful for holding a single fishing rod or a plurality of fishing rods.

BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION

Fishing rod holders are extremely well known and examples of same may be located in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,366,640, 4,803,794, 4,658,534, 5,662,306, 6,318,017 and 6,898,893.

In U.S. Pat. No. 4,366,640 there is described a fishing rod holder having a cross sectional shape in the form of a shallow U shape channel through which a handle of a fishing rod may be inserted into an aperture in of the side walls of the U. The central part of the channel may be mounted to a suitable support by use of a clamping assembly as well as a pair of screw threaded fasteners.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,803,794 refers to a elongate tube forming a fishing rod holder mounted at an angle to horizontal and having a flange or base plate which is mounted to a support by a screw threaded rod extending through aligned apertures in the flange or base plate and the rod. The fishing rod is held in desired position by a wing nut engaging the screw threaded rod.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,658,534 refers to a fishing rod holder in the form of a hollow pipe having a threaded bore at one end for threadably mounting the hollow pipe to a spike which has a head at one end and a point at the other end. A threaded collar is secured to the spike adjacent the head end but spaced therefrom to avoid damage to the threaded collar in use. The spike may be reversibly mounted in the hollow pipe so that the pointed end may be retained within the pipe or extend outwardly from the pipe.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,662,306 refers to a tubular fishing rod holder having a threaded L shaped hook which extends through a gap in a cleat which is attached to a side wall of the tubular fishing rod holder and wherein the L shaped hook is clamped to the cleat.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,898,893 refers to a fishing rod holder having a threaded rod and a fixed clamp attached to one end of the threaded rod and a U shaped support rod support bracket attached to the other end of the threaded rod.

Having regard to the prior art discussed above it will be appreciated that such prior art refers to fishing rod holders of complicated construction which means that manufacturing costs will be relatively expensive.

It therefore is an object of the invention to provide a fishing rod holder which is of simple construction.

The fishing rod holder of the invention includes a tubular rod holder having a continuous side wall, an open top and a closed end wall having a fastening shank or projection extending outwardly and centrally from the closed end wall and a socket member engageable with the shank or projection.

The tubular rod holder may have any suitable shape but is preferably round in cross section although this is not essential.

The fastening shank or projection extends centrally and outwardly from the closed end wall and may be screw threaded or non screw threaded. The shank or projection may also be tapered preferably progressively inwardly towards a free end of the shank or projection.

The shank or projection may also be provided with a transverse passage for insertion of a circlip.

The socket member may be of any suitable type and thus may be in the form of a mounting block releasably engageable to a chassis or bull bar of a vehicle for removal when appropriate. Alternatively the socket member may be a spike having a pointed end and a aperture or passage located at an end remote from the pointed end for releasable engagement with the shank or projection. Such engagement may involve a male-female interaction by interference fit, screw threaded engagement or use of a circlip extending through aligned transverse passages located in the shank or projection and the socket member.

PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Reference may now be made to a preferred embodiment of the invention as shown in the attached drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of one embodiment of a rod holder of the invention and a mounting socket in the form of a mounting block attachable to a vehicle chassis, golf buggy an the like;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of another embodiment of a rod holder of the invention using a different form of mounting socket such as a mounting spike insertable in the ground;

FIG. 3 is a front view of a vehicle chassis having multiple rod holders of the invention of the type as shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a front view of yet another embodiment of a rod holder of the invention;

FIG. 5 is a front view of a different embodiment of a rod holder of the invention to that shown in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a front view of an alternative embodiment of a rod holder of the invention to that shown in FIG. 4 or FIG. 5;

FIGS. 7, 8 and 9 refer to the embodiment shown in FIG. 6 in more detail;

FIG. 10 shows an end view of a buggy fitted with the rod holder(s) of the invention;

FIG. 11 refers to a detail of area “X” shown in FIG. 10; and

FIG. 12 refers to a side view of the buggy shown in FIG. 10.

In the drawings there is shown in FIG. 1 a rod holder 10 in the form of an elongate tube 9 having a round side wall 11, open top end 12 and closed bottom end or base wall 13 from which a screw threaded shank 14 extends outwardly and centrally therefrom. There is also provided a mounting socket in the form of block 15 having a mating screw threaded passage 16 for screw threaded shank 14. There is also provided in phantom the outline of a fishing rod 17.

In FIG. 2 there is shown another embodiment of the invention in the form of rod holder 10A having elongate tube 9 and screw threaded shank 14 and mounting socket 18 in the form of a tapered body 19 having screw threaded aperture 8 which may have a spike attached thereto (not shown) for insertion in the ground.

In FIG. 3 reference is made to another embodiment of a rod holder of the invention wherein rod holder 10B is shown having elongate tube 9 and a tapered projection 20 extending downwardly from bottom wall 13. The tapered projection 20 is also provide with a transverse passage 21 shown in phantom. There is also shown a mounting socket 22 in the form of a spike 23 having a tapered passage 24 of corresponding shape to projection 20. There is also provided a transverse passage 25 which registers with transverse passage 21 for insertion of circlip 26 wherein shank 27 of circlip 26 engages with passages 21.

In FIG. 4 there is shown another rod holder 10C similar to the embodiment shown in FIG. 2 wherein rod holder 9 has screw threaded shank 14 and mounting socket 28 has corresponding screw threaded passage 29 and wherein mounting socket 28 has spike or pointed end 30.

In FIG. 5 there is shown an embodiment in the form of rod holder 10D having a downwardly extending projection or shank 31 of constant diameter which engages with corresponding passage 32 of mounting socket 33 which has a pointed end or spike 34. Mounting socket 33 is also provided with a transverse passage 35 which registers with transverse passage 36 of projection 31 so as to allow for insertion of shank 27 of circlip 26.

In FIG. 6 there is provided a chassis 37 of a motor vehicle which may be in the form of a bull bar or bumper frame of conventional design having bottom rail 38, end uprights 39, intermediate uprights 40, cross members 41 and 42 and top cross member 43 having an aperture 44 for attachment of mounting block 45 which is similar to mounting block 15 except it may be provided with a plurality of passages or sockets 46 for insertion of a plurality of fishing rod holders 10 shown in FIG. 1. Mounting block 45 may be attached to aperture 44 in any form of releasable engagement such as by the use of clamps or threaded fasteners (not shown).

In relation to the arrangement shown in FIG. 6, a more detailed view of the connection of mounting block 45 to chassis 37 is shown in FIGS. 7, 8 and 9 wherein U bolts 47 having threaded ends 48 engage with corresponding nuts 49 to attach mounting block 45 to chassis 37. Rod holders 10 are shown mounted in sockets 46.

In relation to FIG. 10, there is shown a buggy 50 having handle 51, wheels 52 and frame 53. There is also provided a mounting block 54 having a plurality of sockets 55 for screw threadedly mounting of rod holders 10. There are also provided U bolts 47 for connection of mounting block 54 to frame 53.

In use the fishing rod holder of the invention is extremely useful in that it is of extremely simple construction and when employed in the embodiment of FIG. 6 may be easily removed from chassis 37 when the vehicle incorporating chassis 37 is being sold for example. Thus in this situation the rod holder 10 may be retained and attached to another vehicle when desired.

The fishing rod holder may also be used for holding umbrellas or other elongate articles and the term “fishing rod holder” should be interpreted in this context. 

1. A fishing rod holder having (i) at least one tubular component having a continuous side wall, an open top and a bottom end wall having a fastening shank or projection extending outwardly and centrally from the bottom end wall, and (ii) a socket component engageable with the shank or projection.
 2. A fishing rod holder as claimed in claim 1 wherein the fastening shank or projection is screw threaded and engages with a screw threaded aperture or opening in the socket component.
 3. A fishing rod holder as claimed in claim 1 wherein the shank or projection is unthreaded and engages with an unthreaded mating aperture or opening in the socket component wherein there is provided a transverse passage in the shank or projection and a mating transverse passage in the socket component wherein the transverse passage in the shank or projection is aligned with the mating transverse passage in the socket component in use and a retaining clip extends through the transverse passage and the mating transverse passage.
 4. A fishing rod holder as claimed in claim 3 wherein the shank or projection is wedge shaped and the mating aperture has a complementary shape.
 5. A fishing rod holder, as claimed in claim 1 wherein there is provided a plurality of tubular components and the socket component is a mounting block having a multiplicity of mating apertures which each engage with a respective tubular component wherein the mounting block is attached to a frame which is part of a chassis of a vehicle.
 6. A fishing rod holder as claimed in claim 5 wherein the mounting block is provided with a pair of apertures located at each end thereof and there is further provided a pair of clamps which engage with the frame.
 7. A fishing rod holder as claimed in claim 6 wherein the frame includes a horizontal frame member and each clamp is U shaped which extends around the horizontal frame member and each upright or stem of the U is screw threaded to engage with a mating screw threaded aperture located in the mounting block. 